Going the extra mile for Cedar Gorge

Andrew Struck is going above and beyond to help Ozaukee Washington Land Trust purchase the proposed Cedar Gorge Clay Bluffs Nature Preserve  — an effort bolstered recently as Ozaukee County received word it received a $450,000 grant toward the $5 million purchase.

Struck, Ozaukee County’s director of planning and parks, has not only worked behind the scenes to make the project a reality, he is now embarking on a bicycle ride around Lake Michigan to raise money for three projects, among them the Cedar Gorge purchase.

The other projects are construction of a staircase to Lake Michigan at Virmond Park in Mequon and improvements to the Ozaukee Interurban Trail, which Struck will use to start his 1,000-mile journey.

“Each project is at a critical junction, a make-or-break situation, with deadlines looming,” Struck wrote on his GoFundMe page, noting the offer to purchase the 131-acre Cedar Gorge expires in mid-September.

According to the Land Trust website, it has raised $4.36 million of its $5.2 million goal.

That includes a $450,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency administered through the Department of Natural Resources’ Office of Great Waters.

Struck, who said last month that the county had tentatively been awarded the grant, said he received formal notification of it earlier this month.

“This is good news. We’re closing in on it (the fundraising goal),” he said. “This is a big chunk, and the fundraising has been going well.  We still have a way to go, but it’s looking very good. We’re getting close.”

The County Board is expected to formally approve the grant when it meets in early August, he said.

Struck said that depending on when the funds for both this grant and a $600,000 Forest Service grant are released, the County Board may be asked to front the money.

The funds would then be repaid to the county as soon as the grant money is received, he said, “a maximum of a couple months.”

The county had a similar agreement in place in 2015, when the Cedar Gorge property was expected to be purchased as part of the Cedar Vineyard subdivision, he noted.

County Administrator Jason Dzwinel said this sort of agreement would take a two-thirds vote of the board to be approved.

“We’re certainly open to bringing that recommendation to the full County Board (if needed),” he said.

  Before that would occur, he said, the matter would be considered by the Natural Resources Board and either the Finance or Executive committee.

The county and Land Trust have been working for years to acquire the 131-acre Cedar Gorge property on Port Washington’s far southeast side.

Initially, the two were to buy the land as part of the Cedar Vineyard subdivision project, but when that did not move ahead the Land Trust made a successful bid to buy the land from Waukesha State Bank.

Fundraising was going well when an anonymous legislator blocked the Joint Finance Committee’s approval of a $2.3 million Knowles-Nelson Stewardship grant — later reduced to $1.3 million — and an anonymous developer stepped forward to buy the land if the Land Trust doesn’t.

Since then, the Land Trust has redoubled its efforts to make up for the lost grant.

Struck said Tuesday he had been thinking about doing a ride around the lake for some time, the need to raise funds for Cedar Gorge prompted him to set out now.

“I want to help us get over this last hump,” he said. “I do like biking, although I haven’t been out as much as I’d like these last few years.

“It’s nice to bring awareness to Lake Michigan. That’s a passion of mine,” he said. “The timing is really good right now.”

On his GoFundMe page, he notes that all three projects involve conservation and public access to Lake Michigan.

“I’ve been fortunate to live most of my life on one of our nation’s greatest natural resources, Lake Michigan,” he wrote. “Lake Michigan is awe-inspiring and a place for recreation, rest, regeneration and renewal.”

He noted that each of the projects he is raising money for has been part of his life for more than a decade “and will ensure the protection of important natural resources, conservation of ecologically sensitive natural areas and provide public access to these special places and Lake Michigan.”

Struck said he will leave his Grafton home on Saturday to head to Manitowoc on the first leg of his journey.

He plans to go as far as Indiana Dunes, then drive around Chicago, saying that biking through the Windy City would take more time than he has. But, he said, he’ll make up that distance as he goes along.

Struck said he will be accompanied by a support team just in case he runs into problems along the way.

“Hopefully I won’t run into a streak of bad weather,” he said.

“I think this will be a fun adventure, a challenge.”

Struck said he plans to be back home by the end of the month.